LSAT 125 – Section 2 – Question 03

LSAT 125 - Section 2 - Question 03

June 2008

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT125 S2 Q03
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Net Effect +NetEff
A
89%
163
B
1%
153
C
3%
158
D
2%
156
E
5%
156
126
138
149
 +Easier 145.417 +SubsectionEasier

Statistics from the National Booksellers Association indicate that during the last five years most bookstores have started to experience declining revenues from the sale of fiction, despite national campaigns to encourage people to read more fiction. Therefore, these reading campaigns have been largely unsuccessful.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that national reading campaigns encouraging people to read more fiction have been largely unsuccessful. This is because bookstore revenue from fiction sales has decreased over the last five years.

Notable Assumptions
Based solely on a correlation between the reading campaigns and bookstore fiction sales, the author concludes that the reading campaigns have failed to achieve their purpose. He therefore assumes that the reading campaigns haven’t mitigated what would’ve otherwise been an even steeper decline in fiction sales. The author also assumes that bookstore sales signal a decline in fiction sales. Thus, he believes that bookstore fiction sales haven’t been siphoned off by some other method (e.g. online) sales.

A
Mail order book clubs have enjoyed substantial growth in fiction sales throughout the last five years.
While bookstore fiction sales have decreased, mail order fiction sales have substantially increased. Thus, the national reading campaign may well have encouraged people to read more fiction. At the very least, the author can’t draw the conclusion that the campaign has failed.
B
During the last five years the most profitable items in bookstores have been newspapers and periodicals rather than novels.
Revenue from fiction sales at bookstores has decreased, regardless of how newspaper sales have changed. This doesn’t offset that fact in any way that would weaken the author’s argument.
C
Fierce competition has forced booksellers to make drastic markdowns on the cover price of best-selling biographies.
Biographies aren’t fiction. We don’t care.
D
Due to the poor economic conditions that have prevailed during the last five years, most libraries report substantial increases in the number of patrons seeking books on changing careers and starting new businesses.
These sorts of books aren’t fiction. We’re not interested.
E
The National Booksellers Association statistics do not include profits from selling novels by mail to overseas customers.
We care about the effects of the national reading campaign. Overseas customers don’t matter.

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LSAT PrepTest 125 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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